Bringing Inspiration to Comics

Demon Street

When I stumbled upon Demon Street completely by chance, I proceeded to read the entire thing (300+ pages at the time) within 2 days. It is utterly addictive and fantastic!

Years ago, the Demon Street appeared from nowhere. The old street was lost, and the new one bridged the gap between our world, and theirs.
Most folks block the entrance with trash and try to ignore it. But not Sep Maeda. What possessed him to cross that threshold into a world of danger and uncertainty?

Sep’s not the only human on the other side; but the kids that survive here didn’t come by choice. Some have made lives for themselves, some fight to find the way out – Safety in numbers; alliances are formed and families are made. The cultures and creature designs are really well done, this as a Netflix series could easily be the new Stranger Things.

All of this is before discussing the gorgous artwork – dark & fantasy stories can often get drowned in greyscale, but Demon Street is saturated with these bright and bold colours that help emphasise (and colour code) some of it’s larger-than-life allies & enemies. Combined with the expertly thinned & thickened inks, this fantasy has a wonderful dreamlike feel to it.

The world, cast & tension builds very gently and very well. New elements of magic & mythos came into play without overwhelming me, my thoughts were as follows:

100 Pages; Oh cool, it’s a fantasy comic, Kids in Peril is a great genre, I wonder where it’s gonna go?

200 Pages; WHOA! This mythos is expanding and exciting, this world’s got some serious legs to it!

300 Pages; HO. LEE. SWEARWORDS. This story is totally engrossing, the characters are all really intersectional, but it doesn’t define them so it’s a lovely slow burn, and I NEED MORE! NOW!!!